ISBE Content Domain IV: US History Precontact to 1877 (0012) (1801-1850)

Robert Owen

(1771-1858) British cotton manufacturer believed that humans would reveal their true natural goodness if they lived in a cooperative environment. Tested his theories at New Lanark, Scotland and New Harmony, Indiana, but failed

Elizabeth Cady Stanton

(1815-1902) A suffragette who, with Lucretia Mott, organized the first convention on women's rights, held in Seneca Falls, New York in 1848. Issued the Declaration of Sentiments which declared men and women to be equal and demanded the right to vote for women. Co-founded the National Women's Suffrage Association with Susan B. Anthony in 1869.

Zachary Taylor

(1849-1850), Whig president who was a Southern slaveholder, and war hero (Mexican-American War) Won the 1848 election. Surprisingly did not address the issue of slavery at all on his platform. He died during his term and his Vice President was Millard Fillmore.

Trail of Tears

-part of a series of forced displacements of approximately 60,000 Native Americans between 1830 and 1850 by the United States government known as the Indian removal -Members of the *Five Civilized Tribes*-> the Cherokee, Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations (including thousands of their black slaves]) were forcibly removed *from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern* United States to *areas to the west of the Mississippi River* that had been designated 'Indian Territory' -The forced relocations were carried out by government authorities after the passage of the *Indian Removal Act* in 1830. -The *Cherokee removal* in 1838 (the *last forced removal* east of the Mississippi) was brought on by the discovery of gold near Dahlonega, Georgia in 1828, resulting in the Georgia Gold Rush

Wilmot Proviso (1846)

-proposal to prohibit slavery in the Mexican cession -not passed -Launches a debate over the spread of slavery that will end in civil war -Was not adapted into law

Federalists

-their decline was a direct effect of the war of 1812; numerous [ ] opposed the war because many of these men earned their living through trade -Tensions increased so much so that by 1814, some [ ] in New England threatened to secede from the United States to form their own country unless the American government immediately sought peace -With the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in 1814 and the end of the War of 1812, many Americans viewed the [ ] as traitors. Their party collapsed, leaving the Democratic-Republican Party as the only political party in the United States until the mid-1820s. -turned into whigs and then republicans

Tecumseh

A Shawnee chief who, along with his brother, Tenskwatawa, a religious leader known as The Prophet, worked to unite the Northwestern Indian tribes. The league of tribes was *defeated by an American army* led by William Henry Harrison at the *Battle of Tippecanoe* in 1811. He was killed fighting for the British during the War of 1812 at the Battle of the Thames in 1813.

Klondike Gold Rush

A frenzy of gold rush immigration to and for gold prospecting, along the Klondike River near Dawson City, Yukon, Canada after gold was discovered there in the late 19th century -gold rush of 1897

Frances Wright

A lecturer, writer, freethinker, feminist, and abolitionist. She combined a typical view of feminism with Fourier's social ideas. Traveled to America and wrote "Views of Society and Manners in America" where she commented on women's positive role in the States. She also founded the Nashoba Commune to educate slaves for freedom.

Era of Good Feelings

A name for President Monroe's two terms, a period (1815-1824) of strong nationalism, economic growth, and territorial expansion. Since the Federalist party dissolved after the War of 1812, there was only one political party and no partisan conflicts. This occurred after the War of 1812, as nationalism swept through the nation

Compromise Tariff of 1833

A new tariff proposed by Henry Clay & John Calhoun that gradually lowered the tariff to the *level of the tariff of 1816;* avoided civil war & prolonged the union for another 30 years -the new negotiated tariff that was issued by President Jackson which was satisfactory to South Carolina and ended the nullification crisis

Compromise Tariff of 1833

A new tariff proposed by Henry Clay & John Calhoun that gradually lowered the tariff to the level of the tariff of 1816; avoided civil war & prolonged the union for another 30 years -Passed as a measure to resolve the nullification crisis, it provided that tariffs be lowered gradually, over a period of ten years, to 1816 levels.

Dorothea Dix

A reformer and pioneer in the movement to treat the insane as mentally ill, beginning in the 1820's, she was responsible for improving conditions in jails, poorhouses and insane asylums throughout the U.S. and Canada. She succeeded in persuading many states to assume responsibility for the care of the mentally ill. She served as the Superintendant of Nurses for the Union Army during the Civil War.

Nullification Crisis

A sectional crisis during the presidency of Andrew Jackson created by the Ordinance of Nullification, an attempt by the state of South Carolina to nullify a federal law (the tariff of 1828) passed by the United States Congress.

Frances Wright

A social reformer in slavery and women's rights. Eventually founded Nashoba Commune in Tennessee: wanted to prove racial equality was possible

Ostend Manifesto (1854)

A statement by American envoys abroad to pressure Spain into selling Cuba to the United States -the declaration suggested that if Spain would not sell Cuba, the United States would be justified in seizing it. It was quickly repudiated by the U.S. government but it added to the belief that a "slave power" existed and was active in Washington.

Spoils System

A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends -occurred during Jacksonian presidency

tariff

A tax on imported goods

Treaty of Ghent (1814)

A treaty that officially ended the War of 1812. Significance: It helped to restore relations between the UK (England/Ireland) and the United States. Through the treaty, America gained influence as a foreign power.

Orders in Council

Background of War of 1812: At the outset of the 19th century, Great Britain was locked in a long and bitter conflict with Napoleon Bonaparte's France. In an attempt to cut off supplies from reaching the enemy, both sides attempted to block the United States from trading with the other. In 1807, Britain passed the [ ], which required neutral countries to obtain a license from its authorities before trading with France or French colonies. The Royal Navy also outraged Americans by its practice of impressment, or removing seamen from U.S. merchant vessels and forcing them to serve on behalf of the British.

Battle of Tippecanoe

Battle in which Native Americans united by Tecumseh and Prophet fought against General William Henry Harrison's forces and lost. -Americans on the frontier blamed Britain for initiating the rebellion (1811) Significance: This battle destroyed the hopes of a large Indian Confederacy. When the American soldiers saw that the Indians had British weapons, they knew the British were helping them resist the Americans. This caused even more hatred towards the British than there had been before. This would ultimately serve as a *catalyst for the War of 1812*, which would take place less than a year after.

Orders in Council (1806)

British acts which prohibited trade with any French possession or ally by a neutral vessel, helped cause the War of 1812

Mexican-American War 1846-1848

Conflict between the US and Mexico that after the US annexation of Texas, which Mexico still considered its own. As victor, the US aqcuired vast new territories from Mexico through the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.

Hartford Convention

Convention held in Connecticut, December 1814, to discuss the issue of New England's one time threat of secession. One proposal adopted called for a 2/3 vote to declare war. Significance: Marked the end of the Federalists as a national party

Franklin Pierce (1853-1857)

Democratic President; 14th president of the U.S. Domestic Affairs: Kansas-Nebraska Act Bleeding Kansas Foreign Affairs: Gadsen Purchase Attempt to secure Cuba-Ostend Manifesto William Walker Nicaraguan dictatorship

war hawks (1811-1812)

Democratic-Republican Congressmen who pressed James Madison to declare war on Britain. Largely drawn from the South and West, the [ ] resented British constraints on American trade and accused the British of supporting Indian attacks against American settlements on the frontier.

-New, unstable government -Old generals -Poorly equipped -Untrained troops

Disadvantages of Mexico during the Mexican-American War

Panic of 1819 (and Banking Crisis of 1819)

Economic crises in the United States of America principally caused by the end of years of warfare between France and Great Britain These two nations had been at war with each other since the 1680s. They finally settled their differences in 1815. While these two nations had warred with each other, the United States had prospered. These European nations needed U.S. industrial and agricultural products to sustain themselves during the conflict. Once the war ended, *U.S.-made products* were *no longer* in such great demand. Both the French and the British *downsized* their respective militaries. During the various British-French conflicts, United States goods, especially agricultural products, were in *high demand in Europe,* the U.S. public had *purchased Western land* at an *extravagant rate.* In 1815, people in the U.S. purchased roughly one million acres of land from the federal government. In 1819, the amount of land had skyrocketed to 3.5 million acres. Many people in the United States *could not afford to purchase the land outright.* The *federal government did allow buying* the land *on credit.* As the economy ground to a halt in 1819, many people in the U.S. did *not have the money to pay off their loans.* The Bank of the United States, as well as state and private banks, began *recalling loans, demanding immediate payment.* The banks' actions resulted in the Banking Crisis of 1819 and helped lead to the Panic of 1819.

Panic of 1819

Economic panic caused by extensive speculation and a decline of European demand for American goods along with mismanagement within the Second Bank of the United States. It was followed by a *general collapse* of the American economy that persisted through 1821. The Panic heralded the *transition* of the nation *from its colonial commercial* status with Europe toward an *independent economy.* Though the downturn was driven by global market adjustments in the *aftermath* of the *Napoleonic Wars,* its severity was compounded by *excessive speculation* in public lands, fueled by the *unrestrained issue of paper money* from banks and business concerns. Second Bank of the United States (SBUS), itself deeply enmeshed in these inflationary practices sought to *compensate for its laxness in regulating the state bank credit market by initiating a *sharp curtailment in loans* by its western branches, beginning in 1818. Failing to provide gold specie from their reserves when presented with their own banknotes for redemption by the SBUS, the *state-chartered banks began foreclosing* on the heavily mortgaged farms and business properties they had financed. The *ensuing financial panic,* in conjunction with a sudden recovery in European agricultural production in 1817, led to *widespread bankruptcies* and *mass unemployment.* The financial disaster and recession provoked *popular resentment against banking and business enterprise,* along with a general belief that *federal government economic policy was fundamentally flawed* Often cited as the end of the Era of Good Feeling and the first Great Depression

Orders in Council

Edicts issued by the British Crown closing French-owned European ports to foreign shipping. The French responded by ordering the seizure of all vessels entering British ports, thereby cutting off American merchants from trade with both parties.

By 1840, more than three thousand miles of canals had been dug in the United States, and thirty thousand miles of railroad track had been laid by the beginning of the Civil War. Together with the hundreds of steamboats that plied American rivers, these advances in transportation made it *easier and less expensive to ship* agricultural products from the West to feed people in eastern cities, and to send manufactured goods from the East to people in the West. Without this ability to transport goods, the *market revolution* would not have been possible. *Rural families* also became *less isolated* as a result of the transportation revolution. Traveling circuses, menageries, peddlers, and itinerant painters could now more easily make their way into rural districts, and people in search of work found cities and mill towns within their reach.

Effects of transportation developments on western expansion and American society

Wyatt Earp

Famous US Marshall in Dodge City, took part in famous gunfight at the OK Corral in Tombstone AZ in 1881

Battle of Thames

Fight in which General Harrison defeated British forces in the Northwest -an American victory over the British in the War of 1812, which ended the British threat to the Northwest Territory -This battle resulted in no lasting occupation of Canada, but weakened and disheartened the Indians of the Northwest.

Macon's Bill No. 2 (1810)

Forbade trade with Britain and France, but offered to resume trade with whichever nation lifted its neutral trading restrictions first. France quickly changed its policies against neutral vessels, so the U.S. resumed trade with France, but not Britain. Significance: Restored America's trade with the rest of the world and led to the War of 1812.

William Henry Harrison

Governor of the Indiana territory who took aggressive action against the Native Americans united by Tecumseh and Prophet, destroying the Shawnee headquarters in the Battle of Tippecanoe 1811 Significance: The first president to die in office and was best known for being a war hero (Battle of Tippecanoe).

Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)

He is known for founding the Democratic Party and for his contribution to the War of 1812 (led his soldiers to victory in the Battle of New Orleans). Significance: He was an important historical figure because he kept the Union together and paid off the National Debt.

Mexican Cession, 1848

Historical name for the region of the present day southwestern United States that was ceded to the U.S. by Mexico in 1848 under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo following the Mexican-American War. This massive land grab was significant because the question of extending slavery into newly acquired territories had become the leading national political issue.

1. U.S.-Mexican War (1846—1848) results in territorial expansion and the discovery of gold -The Panic of 1837 invigorated calls for territorial expansion as a means to prevent future panics and ensure continued prosperity. -The conclusion of the war by treaty, whereby the United States paid only $15 million to annex nearly one half of Mexico's northern territories, coincided with the discovery of gold in California. Flush with *new reserves, banks and mints* began printing more paper money, providing relief to a nation that had recently experienced depression. -As continental *Europe* became engulfed in revolution in 1848, the United States once again looked like an *attractive investment.* American state and national governments re-entered *international money markets.*

How was the Panic of 1837 Resolved?

Federalists

In addition, the [ ] felt that the Constitution was open for interpretation. In other words, [ ] believed that there were unmentioned rights belonging to the federal government, and therefore the government had the right to adopt additional powers.

General Zachary Taylor

Main leader during Mexican War General who led American troops to the Rio Grande

-Gold rush and mining opportunities (silver in Nevada) -The opportunity to work in the cattle industry; to be a "cowboy" -Faster travel to the West by railroad; availability of supplies due to the railroad -The discovery of wheat strains adapted to grow in the climate of the Plains -New inventions allowing them to adapt to life on the Plains, such as the windmill and barbed wire (students may need to speculate as to why homesteaders needed these) -Adventure and the lure of the "Wild West"

Major economic motives for western expansion in early-mid 19th century

Gold Rush of 1849

Mass migration to California following the discovery of gold in 1848 San Francisco grew from a small settlement to a boomtown, and roads, churches, schools and other towns were built throughout California. A system of laws and a government were created, leading to the admission of California as a state in 1850

War of 1812 (1812-1815)

Meanwhile, by late 1811 the so-called "War Hawks" in Congress were putting more and more pressure on Madison, and on June 18, 1812, the president signed a declaration of war against Britain. Though Congress ultimately voted for war, both House and Senate were *bitterly divided* on the issue. Most Western and Southern congressmen supported war, while Federalists (especially New Englanders who relied heavily on trade with Britain) accused war advocates of using the excuse of maritime rights to promote their *expansionist agenda.*

Whig

Member of the nationalist political party formed in 1832 in opposition to the Democrats and the policies of Andrew Jackson

Erie Canal (1825)

New Yorkers built the canal linking the Great Lakes with the Hudson River (363 mi) -an artificial waterway connecting the Hudson river at Albany with Lake Erie at Buffalo

Jeffersonian Republicans

One of nations first political parties, led by Thomas Jeffrson and stemming from the anti-federalists, emerged around 1792, gradually became today's Democratic party Group members were pro-French, liberal, and mostly made up of the middle class. They favored a weak central govt., and strong states's rights; typically southerners

-Northerners -Abolitionists -Abe Lincoln -Henry David Thoreau

Opposers of the Mexican-American War

Compromise Tariff of 1833

Passed as a measure to resolve the nullification crisis, it provided that tariffs be lowered gradually, over a period of ten years, to 1816 levels.

Indian Removal Act

Passed in 1830, authorized Andrew Jackson to negotiate land-exchange treaties with tribes living east of the Mississippi. The treaties enacted under this act's provisions paved the way for the reluctant—and often forcible—emigration of tens of thousands of American Indians to the West.

Horace Mann

Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education; "Father of the public school system"; a prominent proponent of public school reform, & set the standard for public schools throughout the nation; lengthened academic year; pro training & higher salaries to teachers

Macon's Bill No. 2 (1810)

Significance: Restored America's trade with the rest of the world and led to the War of 1812.

-Southerners -James K. Polk -Expansionists/nationalists

Supporters of Mexican-American War

Trail of Tears

The Cherokee Indians were forced to leave their lands. They traveled from North Carolina and Georgia through Tennessee, Kentucky, Illinois, Missouri, and Arkansas-more than 800 miles (1,287 km)-to the Indian Territory. More than 4, 00 Cherokees died of cold, disease, and lack of food during the 116-day journey.

Election of 1848

The Free soilers named former President Martin Van Buren as their canidate. The democrats chose Lewis Cass. The Whigs chose Zachary Taylor. Slavery was concidered a very important topic at the time. Van Buren says no slavery. Cass says popular soverignty. Taylor did not speak about the issue. Conclusion: Zachary Taylor won the election.

War of 1812 (1812-1815)

The war strengthened American nationalism and encouraged the growth of industry -produced a new generation of great American generals, including Andrew Jackson, Jacob Brown and Winfield Scott, and helped propel no fewer than four men to the presidency: Jackson, John Quincy Adams, James Monroe and William Henry Harrison.

Embargo Act of 1807

This act issued by Jefferson forbade American trading ships from leaving the U.S. It was meant to force Britain and France to change their policies towards neutral vessels by depriving them of American trade. It was difficult to enforce because it was opposed by merchants and everyone else whose livelihood depended upon international trade. It also hurt the national economy, so it was replaced by the Non-Intercourse Act.

President Pierce

This president (northern democrat) supported the proslavery government in Kansas -he alienated anti-slavery groups by supporting and signing the Kansas-Nebraska Act and enforcing the Fugitive Slave Act, yet these efforts failed to stem conflict between North and South

Santa Fe Trail

Trail from Independence, Missouri to Santa Fe, New Mexico in the mid-1800s; used from about 1821 to 1880

Tecumseh and Prophet

Two Native American brothers who attempted to unite all the tribes east of the Mississippi River to defend their lands from American settlers Significance: Two brothers that were known for their opposition to surrender the Native American land to whites settlers. They tried to form a broad alliance of Native American tribes with help from Canada.

Monroe Doctrine (1823)

US foreign policy regarding Latin American countries stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention.

General Winfield Scott

United States Army general who led forces during the Mexican War and ran as the Whig Party candidate for President in 1852. Helped the United States win the Mexican War and obtain California., United States Army lieutenant general, diplomat, and presidential candidate. He was responsible for defeating Santa Anna. He also conceived the Union strategy known as the Anaconda Plan.

General Winfield Scott

United States Army general who led forces during the Mexican War and ran as the Whig Party candidate for President in 1852. Helped the United States win the Mexican War and obtain California., United States Army lieutenant general, diplomat, and presidential candidate. He was responsible for defeating Santa Anna. He also conceived the Union strategy known as the Anaconda Plan.

Sojourner Truth

United States abolitionist and feminist who was freed from slavery and became a leading advocate of the abolition of slavery and for the rights of women (1797-1883)

Panic of 1837

When Jackson was president, many state banks received government money that had been withdrawn from the Bank of the U.S. These banks issued paper money and financed wild speculation, especially in federal lands. Jackson issued the Specie Circular to force the payment for federal lands with gold or silver. Many state banks collapsed as a result. A panic ensued (1837). Bank of the U.S. failed, cotton prices fell, businesses went bankrupt, and there was widespread unemployment and distress.

nullify

When states reject a federal law

Pierre Soule

Who was mainly responsible for writing the Ostend Manifesto?

He thought it was unconstitutional and favored the rich

Why did Jackson oppose the Bank of the United States?

The Free-Soilers diverted enough votes from the Democrats to let Taylor win

Why was the election of 1848 significant?

Battle of Thames

William Henry Harrison pushed up the river Thames into Upper Canada and on October 4, 1813, won a victory notable for the death of Tecumseh, who was serving as a brigadier general in the British army.

a) Democrats b) Whigs

[a]: favored limited national government, Indian removal, collapse of the second bank of the US -opposed to increased tariffs and to federally funded internal improvements -looked towards the past -were Jeffersonian agrarians who favored farms and rural independence and the right to own saves -favored rapid territorial expansion over space by purchase or war [b]: -stronger central government, favored increased tariffs, federally funded internal improvements -supported second bank of the US and opposed to Indian removal -looked towards the future; the party of modernization

Robert Owen

a Utopian who set up a model community at his cotton mill in Scotland

Ostend Manifesto (1854)

a document written in 1854 that described the rationale for the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain while implying that the U.S. should declare war if Spain refused -written to draw up a top secret initiative to seize Cuba from Spain -one of the important events of Franklin Pierce's presidency

Panic of 1837

a financial crisis in the United States that triggered a multi-year economic depression. Causes: Fiscal and monetary policies in the United States and Great Britain, the global movements of gold and silver, a collapsing land bubble, and falling cotton prices Results: higher rates of unemployment, bankruptcies, hunger, urban unrest, and deflation

Second Bank of the United States

a national bank overseen by the federal government. Congress had established the bank in 1816, giving it a 20 year charter. The purpose of the bank was to regulate state banks, which had grown rapidly since the First Bank of the US went out of existence in 1811. Went out of existence during Jackson's presidency.

Turnpike

an expressway on which tolls are collected

Daniel Boone

famous early pioneer who cleared Wilderness Road, a new route to the west. Wilderness Road became the main route used to cross the Appalachian Mountains

Nullification Crisis

i) A United States sectional political crisis in 1832-33, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, which involved a *confrontation between* the state of *South Carolina* and the *federal government* ii) It ensued after *South Carolina declared* the *federal Tariffs* of 1828 and 1832 *unconstitutional* and therefore *null and void within* the sovereign boundaries of *the state* -The controversial and highly protective Tariff of 1828 was enacted into law during the presidency of *John Quincy Adams.* The tariff was *strongly opposed in the South,* since it was perceived to put an unfair tax burden on the Southern agrarian states that imported most manufactured goods. The tariff's opponents expected that Jackson's election as President would result in a significant reduction of it.[2] When the *Jackson administration failed to take any action* to address their concerns, the state's most radical faction began to advocate that the state declare the tariff null and void within South Carolina. iii) However, courts at the state and federal level, including the U.S. Supreme Court, repeatedly have rejected the theory of nullification by states

Westward Expansion (1807-1912)

the 19th-century movement of settlers into the American West which began with the Louisiana Purchase and was fueled by the Gold Rush, the Oregon Trail and a belief in "manifest destiny." -refers to territorial acquisitions as settlers began moving westward beyond the Appalachian Mountains -A period when people settled the Great Plains and the remaining frontier

Manifest Destiny

the belief that the United States was destined to stretch across the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean

Cumberland Road

the first road built by the federal government; America's first interstate highway -ran from Cumberland, Maryland, to present-day Wheeling, West Virginia -construction began in 1811

cession

the formal giving up of rights, property, or territory, especially by a state

William Henry Harrison

was an American military leader, politician, the ninth President of the United States, and the first President to die in office. His death created a brief constitutional crisis, but ultimately resolved many questions about presidential succession left unanswered by the Constitution until passage of the 25th Amendment. Led US forces in the Battle of Tippecanoe (battle that kills Shawnee chief Tecumseh year before Madison declares war on GB in 1812)

Grimke Sisters

were 19th-century American Quakers, educators and writers who were early advocates of abolitionism and women's rights.

Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848)

-Mexico agrees to Rio Grande as Texas border -Cedes New Mexico and California to America -The U.S. agrees to pay $15 million for the Mexican cession, which included present day CA, NV, NM, UT, AZ, parts of CO , and WY.

Gasden Purchase (1853)

-Purchased land (parts of present-day New Mexico and Arizona) for 10 million -"Finishes" the continental U.S. -an agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854 under President Franklin Pierce -Historical Era: Westward expansion and Manifest Destiny

Nullfication Crisis

1. On July 1, 1832, before Calhoun resigned the vice presidency to run for the Senate, where he could more effectively defend nullification, Jackson signed into law the *Tariff of 1832.* This *compromise tariff* received the support of most Northerners and half the Southerners in Congress.[6] But it *did not satisfy South Carolina*, and on November 24, 1832, a *state convention* adopted the *Ordinance of Nullification,* which declared that the Tariffs of 1828 *and* 1832 were *unconstitutional* and unenforceable in South Carolina after February 1, 1833 2. South Carolina initiated military preparations to resist anticipated federal enforcement,[8] but on March 1, 1833, Congress passed both the Force Bill—authorizing the President to use military forces against South Carolina—and a new negotiated tariff, the Compromise Tariff of 1833, which was satisfactory to South Carolina. 3. The South Carolina convention reconvened and *repealed its Nullification Ordinance* on March 15, 1833, but three days later, nullified the Force Bill as a symbolic gesture of principle. 4. The crisis was over, and both sides found reasons to claim victory. The tariff rates were reduced and stayed low to the satisfaction of the South, but the states' rights doctrine of nullification remained controversial. By the 1850s, the issues of the expansion of slavery into the western territories and the threat of the Slave Power became the central issues in the nation.

John Tyler (1841-1845)

10th President of the United States from the Whig party who served from 1841-1844 nicknamed "His Accidency," on accord that he was initially a vice president who came to office after the death of President William Henry Harrison. He initiated the politics of Manifest Destiny.

James Polk

11th President of the United States from Tennessee; Committed to westward expansion; led the country during the Mexican War U.S. annexed Texas and took over Oregon during his administration

William Lloyd Garrison

1805-1879. Prominent American abolitionist, journalist and social reformer. Editor of radical abolitionist newspaper "The Liberator", and one of the founders of the American Anti-Slavery Society.

Martin Van Buren

8th President of the United States from the Democratic Party who served from 1837-1841 who opposed war with Mexico.

War of 1812

A war between the U.S. and Great Britain caused by American outrage over the impressment of American sailors by the British, the British seizure of American ships, and British aid to the Indians attacking the Americans on the western frontier. Also, a war against Britain gave the U.S. an excuse to seize the British northwest posts and to annex Florida from Britain's ally Spain, and possibly even to seize Canada from Britain. The War Hawks (young westerners led by Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun) argued for war in Congress. The war involved several sea battles and frontier skirmishes. U.S. troops led by Andrew Jackson seized Florida and at one point the British managed to invade and burn Washington, D.C. The Treaty of Ghent (December 1814) restored the status quo and required the U.S. to give back Florida. Two weeks later, Andrew Jackson's troops defeated the British at the Battle of New Orleans, not knowing that a peace treaty had already been signed. The war strengthened American nationalism and encouraged the growth of industry.

Grimke Sisters

Abolitionists and suffragettes. The sisters came from South Carolina in an aristocratic family, with an Episcopalian judge who owned slaves father. Both sisters became abolitionists, and after converting to the Quaker faith, they joined Society of Friends. In 1835, Angela wrote an anti-slavery letter to Abolitionist leader William Lloyd Garrison, who published it in, The Liberator. They spoke at abolitionist meetings. In 1837, Angelina was invited to be the first woman to speak at the Massachusetts State Legislature. Sarah and Angelina wrote Letter on the Condition of Women and the Equality of the Sexes (1837) - objecting to male opposition to their anti-slavery activities.

-A stable government -Money, supplies -Good civil military leaders -Better trained troops -Mobile artillery

Advantages of U.S. during the Mexican-American War

b

All of the following were components of the Compromise of 1850 *except:* a) A new Fugitive Slave Law was passed b) Slavery was banned in Washington, D.C. c) Popular sovereignty would determine the future of slavery in the territories d) California was admitted as a free state

Wilmot Proviso (1846)

Amendment that sought to prohibit slavery from territories acquired from Mexico. Introduced by Pennsylvania congressman David Wilmot, the failed amendment ratcheted up tensions between North and South over the issue of slavery.

Specie Circular (1836)

An executive order issued by Andrew Jackson requiring payment for government land to be in (specie) gold and silver. Historical Significance: Led to inflation and rising prices; blamed for the Panic of 1837

-Unlike their predecessors, who traveled by foot or wagon train, these settlers had new transport options. Their trek was made possible by the construction of *roads, canals, and railroads,* projects that required the funding of the federal government and the states. -New technologies, like the steamship and railroad lines, had brought about what historians call the transportation revolution 1. Roads and Canals -in 1811, construction began on the *Cumberland Road,* a national highway that provided thousands with a route from Maryland to Illinois -Other entities built *turnpikes,* which (as today) charged fees for use. New York State, for instance, chartered turnpike companies that dramatically increased the miles of state roads -*Canal mania* swept the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. Promoters knew these *artificial rivers* could save travelers immense amounts of time and money; The *preeminent example* was the *Erie Canal,* which linked the Hudson River, and thus New York City and the Atlantic seaboard, to the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Valley. 2. Railroads -Starting in the late 1820s, *steam locomotives* began to compete with horse-drawn locomotives. The railroads with steam locomotives offered a new mode of transportation -Ex. The *Mohawk and Hudson Railroad* was the first to begin service with a steam locomotive. Its inaugural train ran in 1831 on a track outside Albany and covered twelve miles in twenty-five minutes.

improvements in transportation made from 1801-1850

49ers

nickname of people that moved to California in hopes to become rich starting in 1849 after gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill, in Coloma, California in 1848